Chicago
by Sgate2001
Summary: Sam and Janet do a little investigating! Femslash


Chicago

"Janet, really, I'm fine," Sam stated whilst removing her hand from Janet's grasp.

"Sam, there is a reason why I have been sent to Chicago to come and see to you personally," Janet replied taking Sam's hand back.

"The only reason you are here is because I have unusual blood chemistry not because of my **minor** injury," Sam emphasised.

"Don't get me wrong, I love to get out of the mountain, but it's a Hell of a long way to come for a house call, so will you just sit still and let me work?" Janet said, finally using her no-nonsense doctor tone.

"Aargh. Okay. Fine." Sam gave up and sat back in the chair whilst Janet got to work examining her hand.

It had been stupid really. She was sent to Chicago on a covert mission to observe some suspicious activity that had been going on. With her connections with the NID she was the ideal choice and had been approached by Agent Barrett to help with the investigation. However, these 'observations' involved entering the home of a particular individual, who unexpectedly returned.

Now if Colonel Jack O'Neill had seen the 'oh so ungraceful' exit she made over the chain-link fence in the back garden, he would have questioned her credentials as an Air Force Officer all over again. Not to mention her ability to function as a human being with even basic skills in hand-eye co-ordination.

It started out well at least. When she heard the arrival of the suspect's car in the driveway, she made a quick and traceless exit out the back. Using her skilled eye, she quickly established that the most efficient and swift way to escape was to launch herself off the rubbish bins at the end of the garden, over the fence and down the alleyway to the street where her car was parked. However, when she grabbed hold of the fence there was a previously unseen protruding wire, and, as she jumped up and over, it sliced into her hand, causing a sharp pain and lots of blood. In her defence she did remain quiet with only a muffled yelp escaping her lips, so she continued to go undetected in her withdrawal from the property.

The pain that she received from her injury did affect her landing though. The momentary lapse in concentration caused her to land in an ungainly sprawl, twisting her ankle in the process. This then led to an undignified limp back to her black SUV where she could, even using her untrained eye, determine that her hand would need medical attention. She then made contact with the SGC who sent everyone's favourite doctor out for a house call.

That was the situation she found herself in now, with a deep slice from the base of her middle finger, along her palm to her thumb on her left hand. But at least her ankle had healed somewhat, courtesy of an icepack; in the time it had taken for Janet to arrive.

Her motel room, which was serving as her base of operations, had few amenities. The bunch of golf balls stuffed into the mattress with the odd wayward spring here and there, could be what the motel called a bed. The fact that one leg was shorter than the rest gave the bed an amusement park ride feel that she supposed could be classed as in-room entertainment. In front of the window, which overlooked the car park, was an old black and white T.V. with the worst reception in the world, or so it seemed anyway. Over in the corner of the room was what appeared to be an antique dresser where her laptop was set up. It was antique in the respect that it was old, falling apart and smelled like it had been there since the beginning of time. The floor was covered in a heavily stained and in some areas threadbare carpet, however she found herself thinking that the cream and brown patterned carpet was an original 70's feature. The walls of her room had a distinct older generation feel with the densely populated pink floral patterned wallpaper and lime green curtains really set off the mismatched look. Every time she looked around her temporary home she wondered whether Senator Kinsey had a point regarding the budget issues of the Air Force if this is the kind of accommodations they could afford.

Samantha Carter was sitting at the chair, which matched the dresser in every way, including the smell, whilst the good Doctor was attending to her hand. She found that if she kept trying to think of the mission and the aspects of her assignment she could ignore how good the soft, smooth skin of her friend's hand felt as it was holding hers even if it was in a purely medical capacity. She could almost put out of her mind the fact that she was within touching distance of delicate lips as the doctor was on her knees examining her hand- almost. But, alas, it would never be, for many reasons, not least the fact that Janet was straight. But if something were going to happen between them then it would have already, wouldn't it? They had been best friends for over five years now, or at least that's how Sam tried to rationalize things.

"I'm going to give you a shot of wide-spectrum antibiotics and a mild painkiller, these shouldn't effect you too much, but I will need to clean it up and put a few stitches in, ok?" Janet chimed in pulling Sam from her reverie.

"Ok, but…" Sam paused as she heard the distant rumble of the 'El' and knew that even her voice couldn't drown out that of the locomotive. As the sound increased so did the vibrations causing the entire room to shake and place the faded pictures on the wall in serious jeopardy. 'Here we go again…' thought Sam as she cursed the Air Force for selecting a hotel within spitting distance of the train. When the noise had simmered down to a quieter level she continued, "can we make it quick because I've got to get back out there?"

"It will take as long as it takes, Sam. I'm not going to rush and do a bad job, so you'll just have to wait until I'm finished to go back out there and play detective," Janet stated whilst collecting the supplies she needed to fix Sam's hand. "I don't know why they sent you out here alone anyway, it could be dangerous." Janet began her ministrations, "anyway, how did you injure yourself?"

So Sam began to re-count the entire story and by the time she was finished she was blushing with embarrassment. Janet reached out and cupped Sam's cheek lightly stroking the blush. "You don't have to be embarrassed with me, Sam. Besides, I've seen you do far more humiliating things," she teased with a twinkle in her eye.

The Major ducked her head and tried to remain calm after Janet's show of affection, whilst the Doctor continued to tend to her injury.

When Sam's hand had been expertly cared for and secured within a protective bandage Janet began to enquire about the progress of her assignment, "so have you found anything out yet?"

"Well I followed the energy readings and they led to that house." Sam said as she inspected the bandage on her hand.

"This is the Asgard energy beam thing, right?" Janet questioned.

"Yeah, well, similar to it anyway. But I barely managed to get a look around before the guy came back, which is why I have to go back and watch the place and see if I can get another chance to have a look around." Sam replied as she headed towards the door grabbing her leather jacket on the way knowing that Chicago was living up to its name of 'The Windy City,' as a particularly fierce gust of wind blew inland from Lake Michigan.

"Well, you're not going alone this time," Janet stated as she put her coat on and followed the Major out of the motel.

"Hang on, Janet, you can't come with me. It might be dangerous and you could get hurt," Sam said, allowing her protective nature toward the woman she was secretly in love with take over.

"If I recall correctly that's what I said to you, besides that is exactly why I am coming with you. It may well be dangerous and I don't want to see you get hurt anymore than you have," Janet held Sam's hand up to her face to emphasise her point.

"Look, that was an isolated incident…it won't happen again," the Major replied defensively taking her hand back.

"Getting shot could be an isolated incident Sam and with SG1's track record a highly likely one. Now I was sent here to help you and that is what I am going to do…so your car or mine?"

"Mine," Sam sighed as she moved to unlock the doors.

Some time later… 

The car was suddenly filled with a roar as the crowd cheered the impressive display of the White Sox. The radio seemed to only pick up the local station but the pair had decided it was better than nothing, even though neither was a fan of baseball.

"This is ridiculous! Is this guy ever going to leave the house?"

"You know, for a doctor you don't have much patience."

"Sam, doctors don't need patience…" A pair of eyebrows rose behind blonde bangs, "oh you know what I mean."

Sam chuckled, "this is what stake-outs are about."

"Yeah, but don't you feel like we should be doing something, I mean the bad guys could be getting away or something." Sam grinned at the doctor, "Ok so maybe I've watched a few too many movies but I still do have a point, don't I?"

"Well yeah I guess we could be here for a while waiting for him to leave…so…new tactic…misdirection," Sam eyed Janet up and down with an evil grin on her face.

"What?"

"You know how you wanted to help me…well I've got a plan," Sam wiggled her eyebrows to punctuate her statement.

"I'm not going to like this am I?"

"Oh I don't know how do you fancy a little bit of role play?"

Janet's mind wandered briefly before she physically shook her head to clear it, " Sam, will you just tell me what you are going on about?"

"Well when I was first here I got a pretty good look around the back of the house and downstairs but I didn't get to go upstairs. I know the layout so I can slip in the back and up the stairs but only if his attention is directed toward the front of the house. That's where you come in," Sam eyed the doctor hopefully.

"Oh no, I definitely don't like the sound of this," Janet remarked.

"Hey, you said you wanted to help…take your jacket off."

"What…why?" Janet questioned as she removed the black leather garment.

"Well if your gonna play 'the girl next door' you have to look the part."

"Excuse me?"

"Look if you ring the doorbell and get his attention and keep him talking about things…pretend you're moving into the neighbourhood or something and I can sneak in the back.

"And what does that have to do with the way I look?"

"Well I think he would be more receptive if you looked appealing, you know 'girl next door'…guys love that kinda stuff."

Janet looked down at her outfit; she had to admit that the charcoal coloured turtleneck jumper and blue faded jeans did give that sort of impression. Seeing Janet's eyes look over her clothes Sam did the same and said, "Well I think you have a 'girl next door' look about you…kind of harmless, you know?" Sam's relished the opportunity to be allowed to have her eyes roam freely over the doctor's body.

"Sam, I'm a trained soldier," Janet reminded her, a bit offended by her comment.

"I know that, you know that but we don't want him to know that…now come on I'll go round the back and you go and knock on the door," Sam encouraged as they exited the SUV.

"Fine, but I don't think I can do this…"

"Well don't forget to use all of your…um…assets," Sam said staring at Janet's breasts.

Seeing where the Major's eyes were now focused Janet responded whilst shaking her head "Sam!"

"What's the matter, Doc, afraid he won't be…libidinous?" Sam teased.

"Sam! Behave!" Janet chastised as they left each other and went their separate ways.

"Well, here goes…" the doctor said under her breath as she approached the front door of the seemingly average South Side bungalow.

Knock, Knock

The door swung open and Janet took a moment to appraise the man in front of her. He was a short scrawny looking man only a few inches taller than her and late thirties if she were to guess with grey flecks throughout his short-cropped brown hair. He was dressed in a pair of blue baggy work overalls and a pair of heavy-duty black boots.

When Janet began to speak her mind went blank and with Sam's previous comments the only thing she could think of she stood a little straighter, with her shoulders back and emphasised her…assets.

"Err…can I help you?" The man questioned obviously distracted by where his gaze was directed.

"Well, yes, actually I was hoping you could tell me a little about the area. You see, I'm thinking of moving into the neighbourhood and I wanted to get the perspective of someone already living here." Janet responded trying to sound as innocent as possible.

"I'm kinda busy right now, and I ain't really been here all that long either," he replied after regaining some of his composure.

"Oh, well, I couldn't trouble you for a glass of water could I? It's just that I have been walking around the area for a while now and in this sun, I'm a little dehydrated." Janet waved her hand in front of her face in a cooling gesture, "besides any information you could give me would be a bonus."

Janet could see he was mentally thinking over his options, so she tried to sway him to her favour by adding, "I mean a gentleman like you would surely be able to help a lady like me…my name is Janet by the way."

"Err…my name's…um…Davenport. I 'spose you could come in for a little bit…" and with that he spun around on his heels and walked down the hallway to the kitchen leaving Janet to make her own way to the living room. Janet just had to hope that Sam had already made her way upstairs.

Janet situated herself onto the sofa to the left of the room just behind the door from the hallway. To her left was a small television and opposite her was another 2-seater sofa matching the one she was occupying. On the wall to the right of her was a bare sideboard and another doorway, which she assumed, led to the kitchen as Davenport entered.

After handing the doctor a glass of water he went and sat on the sofa opposite her and made a grab for the remote to turn off the tennis he had been watching.

"So, Mr Davenport, is there anything you could tell me about the local area?" Janet questioned trying to occupy him.

"Jefferson here, sir."

Janet looked toward the hallway startled by the new voice.

"There isn't a lot of traffic after six so it's great for kids…if you have any that is," Davenport stated loudly trying to distract Janet from the new arrival and cover-up the conversation.

"Estimated time of completion is one hour, sir," the voice continued.

"Uh huh…" Janet replied whilst trying to covertly listen to the man in the hall.

"Jefferson, could you keep it down?" Davenport shouted at the man now making his way closer to the living room.

"Michaels, hang on a sec' would ya?"

"Michaels? I thought your name was Davenport?" Janet questioned.

"Err…well…" Davenport/Michaels stammered.

"We should be ready to be beamed back up in two hours, sir," Jefferson froze as he walked into the living room.

"Err…hi my name is Janet, you must be…um…Jefferson?" Janet said becoming nervous that she had been caught overhearing compromising information and now suddenly outnumbered. She could only hope that Sam was aware of her predicament.

After Sam had made her way up the stairs she started to carefully open doors to try and find some answers. The first door she came to on the right was a bathroom, after glancing around she came to the conclusion that no answers were to be found here so she moved onto the next room. The blonde found this to be a small room with only a single bed and a bedside table with a lamp on top. She didn't bother to enter the spartan room as she reasoned it served as a glorified barracks and she needed to hurry to find some useful information.

The next room she entered, slightly off to the right of the previous one, was what appeared to be a study, with lots of papers lying around. 'Jackpot' she thought as she entered and closed the door behind her. The Major moved over to the large pine table in the centre of the room that housed a computer as well as some blue prints and other documents. She began to search through the information and she hacked the computer files until she came across something that made her grab the office chair nearby so she could sit down. "Oh God!" she exclaimed to the quiet room. "Those bastards…" she continued as she carried on reading, " they can't do that…the animals."

Suddenly she heard a shout from the stairs, "hey, watch it!"

Sam leapt from the chair and moved to the back of the door whilst removing the gun from the waistband of her trousers and cocking it in one swift motion. She strained to listen to the voices as they continued…

"We just have to keep you out of the way for a while, don't give us no trouble and you won't get hurt, 'right?"

"I won't say anything." Janet stated, trying to keep within the 'girl next door' façade but couldn't contain her natural defiance. They dragged the doctor up the stairs, passed the door that Sam was standing behind and into the last room over to the left.

Sam, after deducing that the doctor was 'safe' for the time being, learned what information she could and then covered her tracks so as not to alert them to her presence.

"Look I didn't really hear anything. This isn't necessary. I can just wait a couple of hours until after you have been…err…picked up?" Janet said, trying to reason with her captors.

Jefferson looked at her with both eyebrows raised.

'Oh Damn' Janet mentally sighed; she told Sam she would be no good at this.

Accepting her now inescapable fate of being tied up, she decided not to struggle or offer further comment knowing that help was nearby in the form of a blonde Major. So Jefferson went ahead and bound her wrists together behind the back of the chair she sat in. Another rope was placed around her waist and fastened securely out of her reach, ensuring she could not escape from the chair. But when Michaels ripped up a pillow case and went to gag her she couldn't maintain her silence as her anger escalated, "I said I wouldn't say anything, and it's not as if I can go anywhere. So why don't you just go and be the bad guys your mothers would be proud of…" The 'girl next door' has definitely left the building!

Jefferson stalked up to Janet and raised his right hand and punched her firmly in the jaw. A loud crack reverberated around the room and even Michaels looked a little stunned at this outburst. "Look I don't have time to mess about, shut up and sit still!"

Janet, still reeling from the shock just as much as the pain could only nod in response. The plain white cotton of the gag soaked up the blood now flowing freely from Janet's lower lip as it was secured.

After hearing the men leave the room where they had taken Janet the blonde once again moved to the spot behind the door with her weapon at the ready. Once she heard the front door slam shut she left the room to find her friend.

"Janet! My God are you OK?" Sam exclaimed as she ran over to where the Doctor was tied up.

"Mmmph…" came the muffled reply as she glared at her friend.

Sam knelt in front of Janet, reached up and untied the bloody gag from around her mouth.

"Pler!" Janet spat, "Thanks Sam."

"What happened? Are you OK? Did he hurt you?" Sam asked frantically as she tried to keep her emotions under control.

"No, he was a perfect gentleman…" came the sarcastic retort. "Are you gonna just sit there or do you think you could untie me?" Janet questioned as her arms began to protest their current position.

Sam blinked. "Uh…yeah, of course…sorry." The blonde then moved around the behind the chair to remove the binds that secured her friends wrists.

"So, did you find out anything?" Janet enquired as she rubbed her newly freed arms.

"Yes actually. I found out what they are planning and where but not when."

"Now. One of the guys said they would be finished within the hour and then they wanted to be 'beamed up',"

"They told you that?"

"No I overheard him on the phone, which is how I wound up secured to my own personal throne here. Now what are they going to do?" The brunette asked as she ran her hand over her lip to evaluate the level of damage sustained.

On seeing Janet's movements the blonde asked, "are you sure you're alright?" She raised her hand and brushed it over the Doctor's lip as their eyes met.

Janet, after holding the blonde's gaze for a second, reached up and wrapped her hand around the Major's as she softly whispered, "yes Sam, I'm fine." After remembering their current situation she let their hands drop apart and asked again, "What are they going to do?"

Sam coughed trying to regain some composure before replying, "Well I found reference to a substance and some documents that would seem to suggest that it is some kind of vaccine, as it were, to prevent Goa'uld infestation. But just thinking about the list of possible side effects I read is going to give me nightmares for a month. I also found a map of the inside of the water plant just outside of town. My guess is they are on their way now to release this chemical into the water supply. I couldn't stop them when they were here because I don't know where they are keeping the chemical and someone else might just finish the job for them!"

"Well we had better hurry then…lets go!"

"Can you drive, I'd better call Barrett and fill him in, and we may need some help." Sam said as she reached into her leather jacket pocket to retrieve her mobile and began to dial the agent's number.

"Which way to the plant?" the doctor asked as she started to car.

"End of the road, turn left that will put us onto Michigan Avenue. Keep heading along that road and it should take us straight to it…Agent Barrett, hi it's Major Carter…" As Sam filled the man in Janet drove them towards their destination.

"He is going to send out a team to secure the house and some Agents are one their way to meet us at the plant," Sam informed the Doctor after she hung up the phone.

Janet entered the car park through a side entrance instead of the main one and stopped the car at the farthest point, so as not to attract attention to they arrival. Sam opened her door and moved around the vehicle to open the boot of the car. By the time Janet had joined her she had the lock box that was situated there open and pulled out two Kevlar vests and handed one to the Doctor along with a weapon.

"Just in case," the Major informed her friend.

"Well, you certainly came prepared," Janet remarked as she shrugged out of her jacket to put the vest on.

After doing the same Sam replied, "Girl Scout rule!"

"Scouts, huh? Cute," Janet couldn't help but smile at the faint blush appearing on the blonde's cheeks as she ducked her head.

Sam clipped her radio onto her waistband and passed another over to the Doctor, "I've already told Barrett what frequency we will operating on so we can be contacted when help arrives, but I'm afraid if we wait for them it might be too late, so we're going in. Do you think you can handle it?"

Janet glared at her friend and snorted, "Excuse me?"

"Right, yeah sorry. But be careful OK!" Sam said as she checked her weapon one last time.

"Sam, I am a soldier as well as a doctor. You don't have to baby me you know?" Janet riposted, not letting the blonde get away with a common misconception that everyone at the SGC seemed to have.

Sam snapped, "I know that but as your commanding officer and definitely as your best friend I'm sure as hell gonna want to look out for you, sorry if you find that so offensive!"

Shocked by her friend's sudden anger the brunette replied, "I didn't mean it like that."

Softening her tone slightly the Major asked, "So what did you mean?"

She shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know, I guess I'm just tired of everyone thinking that I don't know which way round to point a gun or something."

"Janet, face facts. You're a doctor, a damn good one don't get me wrong, the best even, but that's what you do. You're not a field grade combat officer who faces bloody battles every week to defend the world from threats unknown. We like having you around so yes we want to protect you and that means not putting too much on you that you can't handle. So when I ask you if you can handle it, I'm asking as your superior officer who needs to make sure that her team is ready for battle and I ask as your friend who is worried about you getting hurt more than you already have." She pointed to Janet's cut lip to emphasise her point.

Touched by her friends words she smiled, "yeah, well that was an isolated incident!" echoing their previous conversation.

Continuing along that theme the Major said, "So could you getting shot. I care about you too much to lose you."

Without missing a beat the doctor looked up at the blonde with hopeful eyes, "you do?"

After a brief 'deer caught in headlights' look flittered across her face Sam replied, "of course, you're my best friend, and I'd be lost without you!"

Janet smiled, it wasn't quite the declaration she had hoped for but it was good enough-- for now at least!

In her command voice, Sam stated, "We'll move round to the front of the building and see if we can follow their route in, it will be easier than trying to infiltrate it ourselves. Now can you handle this?"

"Yes Sam," Janet replied without anger at the question this time, content with the knowledge that her friend was just looking out for her.

"Good, lets move!"

As they moved around the dreary grey building, heading toward the front entrance, Sam moved in front of the Doctor. When they approached the corner Sam abruptly stopped and dropped down low. Janet followed suit, after she copied her superior officer and pulled out her weapon she asked Sam in a hushed whisper, "what's going on?"

"They're sitting there, in the car, both of them!" Sam said, slightly confused, this wasn't part of her plan.

"I don't understand, why haven't they gone and released the chemical? Or do you think they have already done that? Are we too late?" Janet responded as she began to panic.

"No I don't think so, we weren't that far behind them and besides why would they stick around afterwards?" She risked sticking her head out further to glance at the door that was in front of where they were parked. Luckily the light from above the entrance that highlighted the car also allowed a clear view of the door. "It doesn't looked like they've forced the door either…I don't know what's going on…they must be waiting for something." Sam said as she tried to understand the unexpected behaviour.

Just then a car entered the car park from the same entrance Sam and Janet had used. The Major, now worried could do nothing but wait in their exposed position.

"Shouldn't we run?" Janet asked her more experienced companion.

Sam sighed, "Too late, they know we're here. Our best bet is to surrender and hope for an opening to act later."

"Major Carter this is Agent Beckman, come in…"

"Oh thank God," Sam enthused as she pulled her radio out. "Agent Beckman, this is Major Carter, boy am I glad it's you guys!" As she continued to fill in the new arrivals with the unexpected situation they were faced with she could see them readying themselves in the distance. "I want a perimeter set-up around that vehicle and be ready to move in on my command, understood?"

"Yes ma'am. Beckman out."

As the agent organised his men into position around the car, Janet got Sam's attention by pulling on her sleeve. "So what, we just wait?"

"I guess…" Sam said, aware of the fact that it wasn't the best strategy but she couldn't see any other way.

"Beckman here, ma'am, we're in position."

"Settle down, guys, we're going to give them a minute to…" before Sam could finish her sentence another dark coloured car entered the front entrance and parked next to the one with Jefferson and Michaels in. "Look sharp, boys."

The new arrival parked to the right hand side of the other car and then the window was lowered. Suddenly a chrome briefcase appeared and was passed to Michaels as he sat in the passenger side of the car.

Sam sprung into action, "that must be the chemical…move in, everyone GO, GO, GO!"

Suddenly the car park came to life as five agents came out from their hiding places and advanced on the two vehicles calling for their surrender. The two SGC personnel also advanced on the assailants and as Janet made her way to the back door of the car that had brought the briefcase to secure it, the door unexpectedly swung open and hit her hard in the head just above her left eye. The Doctor staggered back a few paces and held her now throbbing head.

The man that had previously been the occupant in the back of the car set to run flat out as fast as he could away from the men yelling. Unfortunately he didn't count on there being a severely pissed off blonde Major coming around the back of the car just as he was passing it. Sam stuck her arm out and he ran straight into it and landed in a heap on the floor with a satisfying, "oooff!"

After she detained him and he was secured along with the other men, Sam went over to where Janet was sitting on the kerb in front of the plant. "Well that went better than I expected."

"Huh! Speak for yourself!" Janet said cursing herself for ever offering to help.

"Oh well, yeah sorry. I didn't mean about you getting hurt again I was referring to the fact that we didn't have to infiltrate the building, search for the bad guys, wrestle the chemical from them, beat them in some heroic fight and save the day, you know?" the Major replied as she stood in front of where her friend was holding her head.

Janet chuckled in spite of herself, "you sound almost disappointed!"

"Well it is a bit anti-climatic, compared to what I'm used to of course."

"Of course!" Janet echoed praying that the headache would lessen to something more manageable, maybe just two elephants doing the tango on her brain instead of twenty!

Taking pity on her friend the blonde held out her hand, "come on, I've got something that could help that head of yours back at the motel."

Janet reached out and took hold of the offered hand, "thanks."

When they entered Sam's room Janet sat on the bed, noting how uncomfortable it felt but not really caring, as the blonde went to get her some painkillers.

After depositing two little white pills in one hand and a bottle of water in the other, which resulted in the pills promptly disappearing down the Doctor's throat, the blonde sat next to her friend. "Let me have a look," she took hold of the bottle and placed it on the floor by her foot.

Janet turned slightly to look at Sam and raised her chin so she could see easier. Sam lifted her right hand and ran it over the lump already forming above the brunette's eye. At her friend's sharp intake of breath Sam said, "I'm sorry, I know its hurts, it's my fault…I'm sorry." The blonde stood up and walked over to where her suitcase was to start packing.

"That's funny I don't remember you slamming a door into my face!" Janet remarked.

Sam continued to pack, ignoring the Doctor's comment. When the blonde didn't reply Janet stood up and walked over to her, after Sam continued to ignore her she grabbed the Major's sleeve and pulled her around to face her. "Hey, it's not your fault. I told you I could handle it and I did-- just badly!" She tried to make light of the situation to alleviate the tension.

"You were hurt, I was the commanding officer so it's my fault," Sam tried to rationalise.

"So every time you get hurt in the field it's the Colonel's fault then?" Janet offered gently, trying to diffuse Sam's misplaced guilt.

"That's different," even Sam couldn't quite understand how, but it just was.

"Uh huh, I got a bump on the head, it's not as if my arm fell off!" Janet couldn't contain the sarcastic retort.

"I know but…I don't know…" Sam trailed off running her hand through her hair, as confused as she sounded.

Janet laughed softly, glad that the painkillers had started to work, "Well which is it? Either you know or you don't?"

"I do know, but I don't want you to." She didn't mean to say that, or at least she didn't think she did; now she was definitely confused.

After a long pause Janet asked, "What do you mean?"

Sam brushed passed the smaller woman and walked over to the other side of the room, 'damn this is a small room' she thought as she tried to escape the inevitable confession.

"Sam, what do you mean?" Janet softly enquired again as she turned to face the blonde.

"It hurts me when you're hurt," she sighed hoping that was enough.

"It hurts me when you're hurt too, but there's something else, isn't there?" Janet asked hopefully.

Sam stood there. She tried to evaluate in a few seconds every conversation verbal and otherwise between her and the woman in front of her to see if there was any clue that she should go for it and declare all. She came up with one conclusion, she would never know for sure until she said it. Taking a step closer to Janet she took a deep breath and let the words fall from her lips, "yeah, there's something else."

Janet closed her eyes at the words as a shiver of anticipation made its way down her spine.

'She closed her eyes; my God she closed her eyes. I think I might be in with a chance…' thought Sam as she took another step forward.

"Tell me," Janet breathed as she opened her eyes again to see a sultry look on the other woman's face.

The blonde took one final step until she was standing directly in front of her friend, then she raised her right hand and brushed the back of it along Janet's soft delicate cheek, whilst staring into fathomless brown eyes.

"Sam, tell me," Janet whispered, she could barely hold on as her knees began to quiver under the intensity of the gaze that seemed to penetrate her soul.

Sam moved her face inches closer to the smaller woman's as she removed her hand from the Doctor's cheek to run her index finger in a slow tantalising movement from the brunettes forehead along her temple and over that cheek again. She continued the trail until her hand rested at the back of Janet's neck nestled in the long hair she found there.

"Hmmm…" Janet sighed as she briefly closed her eyes at the sensation. When she opened them again she found the Major's face had inched further still, toward her and she could feel her breath caress her skin. The Doctor felt like she was on fire and as the room begun to spin, she begged, "please."

At the soft request Sam moved her other hand to support the small of Janet's back. She took a deep, shaky breath and answered, "I need you…I want you…I love you."

A single tear escaped Janet's watery eyes at the words of her friend's declaration. Her chest began to tighten as the blonde moved closer. Sam pressed her lips to the other woman's in the barest of touches. She pulled back slightly and could see Janet's eyes were still closed, wanting more, so she happily obliged. This time as she closed the gap between them the blonde used the hand at the back of the Doctor's neck to gently encourage her head back. When their mouths met again it was a kiss filled with hunger and desire.

Sam pulled the other woman closer to her as Janet slid her palms up the Major's arms to find their resting place around her neck. Janet opened her mouth slightly and Sam wasted no time in plundering it with her tongue. This woke the doctor up, so to speak, and she matched the vigour of Sam's caresses with her own supple tongue. The injury to Janet's lip was long forgotten in the wake of such passion.

After what seemed like mere seconds, and a thorough exploration of each other's mouths, Janet ripped her lips away from Sam's and rested her forehead against the taller woman's chest, breathing so hard she thought she might pass out. "I…love…you…too!" she managed between pants.

Sam, with her hand still placed at the back of the other woman's neck began to stroke down the length of her hair in a repetitive and soothing gesture. With a twinkle in her eye and a grin plastered on her face she replied, not quite as breathless, "good to know!"

Janet chuckled as she removed her arms from around Sam, her breathing now returning to some resemblance of normal. When the blonde looked at her new lover's face, her grin dropped in an instant and was replaced with a worried frown. On seeing where Sam's gaze was directed, the brunette reached up to her lip and brushed away the spot of blood from her wound. Janet then lifted her other hand to rest on the taller woman's hip, "don't worry, it was more than worth it!" Sam couldn't help but smile at the mischievous smirk gracing the Doctor's features.

The End.


End file.
